Why do Christians support Sheriff Joe?

Pregnant Latina Says She Was Forced to Give Birth in Shackles After One of Arpaio’s Deputies Racially Profiled Her. The story from the Phoenxi New Times.

For the first time in a while, I am too disgusted to write.

Consumer Alert: Beware "free English lesson" calls

The Texas Attorney General today issued a press release warning that," Spanish-speaking consumers are being targeted on their residential and mobile phones by scam artists offering a “free” English course. According to recent complaints to the Office of the Attorney General, callers are posing as employees of a purported nonprofit agency and claiming that call recipients could qualify for a “free” federal government English course. The scam artists ask unsuspecting customers for their personal information and the personal information of three friends as references." You can read the full press release here.

Deportation before Conviction: A question of priorities or money?

Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA ran it's Deporting Justice story last night. The transcript reads, "Hundreds of accused felons charged with murder, rape, assault and kidnapping have been deported from Dallas County without having to face criminal prosecution. News 8 has found that the practice to allow charged felons to circumvent the justice system occurs not only in Dallas, but in major cities throughout Texas and the nation."

The federal government generally makes it a priority to place illegal immigrants accused of serious crimes in custody and ship them back to their home country. Many times, according to the article, the government does not tell the prosecuting attorneys. Thus, criminal defendants are deported before a case can go to trial.

I have a quibble with the story. It fails to mention a major reason why county jails want the federal government to take their undocumented prisoners- money. It costs money for counties to house prisoners. So there is an incentive for county and city prisons to let their prisoners go into ICE's custody. It also costs money for the federal government to house illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. Thus, ICE has streamlined the process and tries to deport illegal aliens accused of serious crimes as quickly as possible.

CNBC's Darren Rovell: Don't celebrate NY Marthon Champion because he's not American- ok maybe he is but barely...

On Wednesday, November 4, 2009, CNBC Sports Business reporter Darren Rovell wrote an article that states in part:

It's a stunning headline: American Wins Men's NYC Marathon For First Time Since '82. Meb Keflezighi of the US celebrates his victory in the New York City Marathon November 1, 2009 in New York. Unfortunately, it's not as good as it sounds. Meb Keflezighi, who won yesterday in New York, is technically American by virtue of him becoming a citizen in 1998, but the fact that he's not American-born takes away from the magnitude of the achievement the headline implies.

The rest of his article then laments that Keflezighi is not "American born" and that "he's like a ringer who you hire to work a couple hours at your office so that you can win the executive softball league." Thus, Rovell reasons the victory should not be a source of national pride.

A few hours and several angry emails later, Rovell wrote another column. This time he said, "Let me be clear: Meb Keflezighi is an American and any suggestion otherwise is wrong." But Rovell continued and said,"All I was saying was that we should celebrate an American marathon champion who has completely been brought up through the American system." Rovell then apologized that he was wrong about Keflezighi because the runner immigrated to the United States when he was 12 years old and not deserving of being called a "ringer."

So I suppose if Mr. Keflezighi became a citizen at age 18, Mr. Rovell would consider him a ringer and not really an American hero?

Arizona TV Station: Sheriff Arpaio under FBI investigation

Phoenix CBS television affiliate, KPHO reports that the "FBI is looking into accusations that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is using his position to settle political vendettas." The so-called "America's toughest sheriff" and anti-immigration icon has denied any wrong doing but the article states:

The list of people subjected to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office ivestigations reads like a Who's Who of the Valley, and it includes people who have authority over the sheriff and people who challenged his authority:

Dan Saban, who ran against the sheriff in 2004 and 2008
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard
Maricopa County Manager David Smith
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors
Superior Court Presiding Judge Barbara
Mundell
ACLU attorney Daniel Pochoda

None of the investigations resulted in convictions; however, they cost the targets hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and tarnished reputations. Many of the targets were never charged with a crime.